Meditation
Start With the Magic of a Flame
In yoga, the Drishti gaze is an important skill to learn for the asana practice but also for meditation.
Close your eyes slightly, and gaze softly past the flame, as though you can see through it.
Exploring Spirituality
The Role of Faith in Overcoming Adversity
Faith can provide strength and comfort during difficult times. It can help people find hope and meaning in their struggles, and give them the courage to keep moving forward.
The Power of Ritual and Ceremony
Rituals and ceremonies can be a powerful way to connect with our spirituality and deepen our sense of meaning and purpose. They can help us mark important milestones, honor our ancestors, and connect with the divine.
The Intersection of Science and Spirituality
Scientists search for meaning in measurable data, but consciousness is something that can’t quite be measured, much less, defined.
With AI becoming a part of our lives more and more, it’s time for us to examine what makes the human being different than the robot. It seems obvious, right?
The scientific community looks at the brain for answers as to why we have risen above the other mammals on the planet and more importantly why robots are different than us. But the brain and the computer are mirrors of one another in some ways; after all, our brains are what created the computer’s brain.
Then, there’s the philosophers and poets who suggest that it there is something invisible and intelligent that sets us aside from robots. After all, we can create robots. They can’t create us.
Why? Because we have something they don’t and it is consciousness.
We are aware that we know. They are not.
Consciousness can’t be defined as brain waves. Consciousness is not about having a conscience. Consciousness is not found in our actions, or even our thoughts. Consciousness uses our brain and the body, but is not bound by either.
It is not that science is denying consciousness but that they simply can’t measure, define or explain it and that is the only way science can explain something as fact. Consciousness can never be explained, or made into a factual, measurable thing, so scientists back away from trying to capitulate the essence of consciousness.
MY EXPERIENCE INTO THE WORLD OF PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
One early morning, the sun was on the rise, as I drove down a country road, enjoying the golden crispness of a cool Midwest autumn morning. I gazed at the colors and back to the road, getting my fill of the beauty and feeling inspired. I was contemplating the way our seasons change and our own lives mimic the transformation each year, rearranging the way think and feel as we grow older, even finding new meaning in life, with a deeper appreciation for all the changes we go through, like the seasons.
And then, I was gliding and soaring through the corn, and then atop the soybeans. I dove into the mounds of soil, topped with the green grass. I felt an incredible moving force inside of me, and was filled with an immense joy, unlike anything I have ever known. I was completely unaware of the fact that I was actually driving at about 65 mph, until I was once more staring at the road ahead, both hands on the wheel.
What on earth?
About two weeks later, after replaying the experience over and over in my mind, it happened again!
This time, I was sitting on my deck in the early morning, surrounded by the plush green of a big Maple tree. Two mourning doves sat on a telephone wire above me, and that is the last thing I recall as far as the material world was concerned.
I gazed at the feathers of my baby dove ~ they were illumed and vibrating. These feathers had colors in depths and luminosity that I’d never seen before and as they vibrated, they emanated love, all the way from the atoms that formed the molecules of their existence! It was an unconditional love – completely unwarranted!
I was filled with a love beyond the love I’d ever felt or was able to give. So much so, it couldn’t be contained, and so it overflowed, and I was able to return this love to the baby dove multiplied by an immeasurable amount! And she would then return to me more and on and on it went – we shared what was an unbelievable amount of awe-struck love and devotion.
I’d never known, and to this day, never felt, such an incredible amount of love.
It was as though love was the currency with which we exchanged our very being with one another! It was, as far as I could tell, the essence of life that we were able to share. It was life, giving life. It was love, giving love.
When I returned to my normal perception (even though I was unaware that anything had happened), I looked down at my coffee cup and up to the telephone line, and the doves were gone. The day was just beginning, and I felt like my life had just been turned completely upside down – what on God’s good earth happened! Was that real? Was I the dove? Or were the doves me? Was I flying on the wings of love, only to return to my dense body? Wow. It was absolutely and unbelievably wonderous.
Unlike the scientific community, I have nothing to prove, and I know I am unable to define what consciousness is. But I KNOW what it is.
THAT is the difference between ourselves and the computer-programmed robot. They cannot KNOW that they KNOW. They can never know anything that we didn’t ask them to figure out. They can compute data far faster than we can and get answers to problems of a physical nature, that would take eons for us to find without them.
But they cannot know that they know how to do this. EVER.
I know without needing proof that I am Love because I have experienced the essence of pure consciousness. I don’t need another human being to tell me what consciousness is, yet scientists are being asked to show us what it is, or at the very least, give us a semi-complete definition.
We will never have words for what is beyond our understanding because we created words that explain only what we know.
As Einstein famously remarked, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
That’s because the brain can only be aware of what it has learned in regard to the physical world and if we are still living in the physical world, using our physical brain, the answers will come only from the information that the world contains.
Science says that solid objects do not exist – and that means that the things, including our bodies and brains are not solid either. We are consciousness, encased in these physical mirages of sorts. These objects are just projections on the screen of what we think of as our life. There is no screen. There are no bodies. Everything comes from within our consciousness. Universal consciousness is why we think and see the same things.
Consciousness Itself, is a wordless, thoughtless force of intelligence that surpasses our own cognizant abilities and even our ability to love. What surpasses our ability to love and to comprehend, can’t be explained by brainwaves or even felt by the heart that beats in our body. Those are metaphors. Life is a metaphor.
SCIENCE MEETS SPIRITUALITY
A scientist by the name of Federico Faggin invented what is known as the first micro processor.. He is the one who made it possible to have such an incredible computing ability in our tiny I-phones! He was forever changed by a similar experience as mine, and was blown away by the repercussions this had on his current understandings, and what it would mean to his contributions to science.
When I first read his words, I was ecstatic! I had only heard of one other person thus far in my life who had this experience, and it was a yogi who goes by the name of Sadguru. Sadguru uses his varied experiences as it went far beyond his own scientific understandings, to help others to find the same enlightened understandings. For more information on Sadguru’s organization, called Isha, visit the website.
Frederick at one time, was convinced, like most scientists, that consciousness and brain activity were connected. Although most of the scientists agree that there is something more to understand about consciousness, they simply have no proof that it is not part of the electromagnetic activity of our brainwaves.
When Federico had the experience of consciousness, it changed him forever, and he had to take leaps and bounds in his mind, to be able to explain what occurred. But he couldn’t, like everyone else who has had this happen.
All he can do, is attempt to put a measure of doubt in the idea that our brain is what makes us conscious. There is no other proof than the personal experience.
HOW YOGA BECAME A PATHWAY TO PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
The connection to the fact that 4000 years before our quest in the west began, in the world of the east, the incredible science of yoga was beginning to look at just this sort of thing. It was introduced to the rest of the world in a work by the scientist, named Patanjali called the Yoga Sutras..
“And now, yoga,” is the first line of the yoga sutras.
We struggle with finding meaning in our lives, despite the fact that we have love, and all the material pleasures we could ever want. We go through life experiencing the pain of loss, the joy of love, and then we die. This sounds and is extremely depressing! Depression and anxiety are major issues in our world, and we continue to take drugs, eat, enjoy our physical pleasures, only to be reminded again and again, that it will all end one day.
We go to doctors for our physical selves; we go to psychologists to help us cope. No one on earth would deny this is the situation for most of us. And that is exactly why the yoga sutras begin with begins with, “And now, yoga.”
The second line of the yoga sutras is “yoga is the cessation of the movement of thoughts.”
The sutras is the explanation of how yoga works to bring us to the ultimate experience of Oneness.. It is a transformative path that has as its goal, the discovery of an awareness of our own personal consciousness, contained within a field of Oneness. This state of being is called Samadhi.
This consciousness connects us to all other living beings – and is the glue that holds our mind, body and soul together.
Just like the computer can’t make itself, we didn’t make ourselves. But someone did. And that “someone” was a force called LOVE, which creates by way of Consciousness. The state of pure consciousness is Samadhi. There is only BEING in pure consciousness.
Just as a child who was adopted yearns to know his mother and father, we, as conscious beings are yearning to know the LOVE that created us and made us conscious.
Who is love? What is love? Where is love?
We ask these questions every time we are lonely. We cry for this, every time we need attention from others. We are fearful of this, every time we remember that we are temporary beings, and will one day, die.
Love is who we are, and consciousness is how we come to know this Love.
Love is energy and energy doesn’t die – it changes form. It goes from the invisible world of consciousness to temporarily living within our body/mind.
Consciousness is “how” eternal beings are able to experience the temporary, sensational material world.
Consciousness is the medium through which we traverse the universe! Love is the force upon which consciousness moves.
We are the creators of our world, and being non-physical beings of consciousness, that world is not outside of us, even though it sure seems that it is. It is all within our conscious being, that informs our brain and body. It goes beyond our brain and body in its ability to fulfill us and it is what allows us to create.
When I was moving through the cornfields, and looking through the eyes and heart of a mother dove, I was creating more of whatever it was I was moving through! I was conscious of the ability to create and to be connected to each creation.
I loved what I created and what I created and moved through, loved me! At the time it was happening, I was aware that I didn’t normally think this way. I knew it was an astounding teaching experience.
Whether you know this or not, you are love, and you are therefore capable of creating your life as a loving being.
Take in all the cosmic intelligence you can through living a contemplative life.! When you do this, every single feeling and emotion you experience will be incredibly satisfying. You will love the present moment because it is in that moment where you real-eyes-d that you were love and that you are loved beyond what you can ever comprehend!
You can absorb and create more of this love; it is in your power to do so. There is only one thing in your way:
THE EGO
As you grow spiritually, you will begin to see past the shenanigans of mankind, especially those driven only by the ego, a protective mind-set needed to exist in the physical realm. That protective mindset grows out of control when fear is involved because that is its job; to defend against threats from the outside. The major egos at play in our politics is a good way to learn what the ego is and what it feeds off of. Fear is food for the ego.
Once you experience the divine within yourself, you won’t need to use the ego nearly as much, if at all. You’ll at the very least, recognize your own ego in your interactions, and learn how to minimize its control over your own thinking. It is easier to stop compulsive behavior and become more mindful when you are certain of your life being eternal, and that you are far more than a brain and a body. Fear begins to subside.
Now, go within and ask, “Who am I?” Make it sincere, and ask again and again. Listen for the answer. As you begin this journey, you’ll be given just the right thing, in just the right amount, to lend you more and more faith. You can’t go from A to Z because the Spirit within you is not linear.
The Spirit within you, who IS you, has been dimmed and covered up by the material world and its many pleasures and pains. It takes time and patience to lift the debris off your soul’s essence enough to let you see the world through the eyes of love, not fear.
You will eventually have an experience that will answer your questions. Don’t doubt that.
Namaste!
Diane
Exploring Different Spiritual Traditions
There are many different spiritual traditions in the world, each with its own unique beliefs, practices, and teachings. By exploring different traditions, we can gain a broader perspective on spirituality and deepen our own spiritual practice.
The Practice of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a practice that involves being present in the moment, without judgment or distraction. It can help us reduce stress, increase focus, and connect with our inner selves.
The Importance of Compassion and Service
Compassion and service are at the heart of many spiritual traditions. By helping others and practicing empathy, we can deepen our own spiritual practice and make a positive impact in the world.
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In Search of Samadhi